When an IC card is used in an apparatus, the user, i.e. the person holding the card, inserts it into the apparatus via an insertion slot. After it has been inserted a certain distance, card drive means take over and convey the card to a connector in such a manner that the card disappears from the reach and sight of the user and reappears only after the card has been processed.
An object of the present invention is to provide an IC card reader in which the end of the card remains in reach and in sight of the user during the operation of processing the card, but where extraction of the card from the reader during card processing is nevertheless either impossible or else made relatively difficult by increased resistance.